The school burns about 180,000 gallons of fuel oil annually, but next year will be different. District and community officials this afternoon celebrated the completion of a new natural gas pipeline to the 2700 N. Cedar Crest Blvd. school.

Using gas instead of oil to operate the building's boilers is expected to save Parkland approximately $400,000 in 2013, district Superintendent Richard Sniscak said. "We are delighted to announce this facility improvement, which will benefit our taxpayers for many years to come," he said.

The school was built with dual fuel capabilities, meaning it can operate with either oil or gas. At the time of its construction, however, there was no pipeline in place.

The cost of installing a pipeline from Route 309 to the school outweighed potential savings, officials said. That changed when a neighboring business, GEO Specialty Chemicals, opted to have a pipeline installed for use at its facility, officials said.

Osborne is the GEO Specialty Chemicals plant manager.

With less ground to cover, Parkland was able to make the transition to gas at a much lower cost than initially anticipated, officials said. Another neighboring business, Jeras Corporation, helped out by allowing the district to install a portion of the pipeline on its land, officials said.